The Truth about Original Gravity and Final Gravity In Beer Brewing and Fermentation

[@bhbarnett1]

David I couldn’t agree with you more about the fact that brewing is not an exact science and that we should embrace the variations in our brew. In the end we’re having fun brewing and it’s going to be good. Always strive to brew better but chances are your friends will love your brew.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear 😎. Way too many homebrewers have anxiety about this.

[@HOMEBREW4LIFE]

Great video DH!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Cheers CH, much appreciated! 🍻🍻😎

[@alanman5328]

Really great video!! I found this to be very interesting ! Many thanks for all you do for the homebrewing community.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Awesome to hear Alan, thank you 🍻🍻😎

[@markbarber7839]

Thanks for the video. I've found that a 90min mash gives me about 4% more conversion. I also mix like crazy and let it sit before slowly starting the circulation pump. This allows a slightly finer grind without getting stuck flow. 83% mash efficiency last batch. I've been using a Rapt Pill for over a year. I'll keg beer about 4 points from FG and it carbonates just fine. I wouldn't try this with bottles for safety reasons.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Cheers Mark, glad you enjoyed it. You would probably find that you could gain that 4% with a couple of stirs for a few minutes during a 60 min mash.

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

90min mash is where it’s at 😊 I think it’s also good to finish sugar conversion from complex sugar to more simple ones. I also do the rest at the beginning for similar reasons. I only stir a little bit though as I do LODO. I get consistent numbers, I think 90mins is a part of that.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Fair enough. We all have to make our own decisions on what suits our own brewing 🍻🍻🍻

[@feronimus7723]

Amazing video as always! Thank you! We also need to factor in the measurment variations that we all have with our measuring tools.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thank you. Yes there are other aspects that I also intend to cover in the future too 🍻🍻😎

[@mardanheddeokwa]

Nice video David. This is the reason that commercial breweries blend a batch with some volume of a previous batch to maintain a consistend taste I think.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Thanks Chris - There are various methods on that level, naturally breweries cannot embrace variation of taste nor ABV.

[@MaltePhilippA]

Stellar content, David, as per usual from you . Thanks!!

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear and much appreciated 🍻🍻😎

[@paulrobertson9439]

Fantastic information as always. In my very humble amateur opinion the slight variation is all part of the home brew experience. If you want beer that is exactly the same every single time then you're better just buying a can from the supermarket. OG - FG is all good as a rough guideline but if it tastes good then that's what it's all about to me anyway. Cheers, :)

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I totally agree, thanks Paul 🍻🍻🍻

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

I think there are two types of home brewer. One does a different recipe every time. Other do the same recipe until it is understood, consistent. Just a thought.

[@RoryAherne]

Im 80% trying to lock in a few house brews and the other 20% is let's try this new thing the kids are talking about

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

@@RoryAherne sounds like a nice balance, my hops are all over the place but the grain bill at root is always the same. Until now…. But even then it’s only a slid into haze, I just changed 10% and see what happens.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Ive come to the conclusion that there are many types of brewers 🍻😎🍻

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Sounds good Rory, whatever suits your wants and needs 🍻🍻🍻

[@petyaur]

At this point are most of our variations based mostly on our choices of our raw materials, or...?

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Its more a case of the variables involved of ingredients in general. Barley, for example , is not going to be identical even from the same batch.

[@OlleMattsson]

Excellent video and as a total noob brewer I'm glad to hear this. Thing is.... there was that "The One Perfect Batch" that one time that came about by what most people would regard a fluke at best and at wost some moronic mistake . But I've basically never stopped trying to recreate it. The One Perfect Batch =)

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Great to hear Olle. Very little is ever perfect but as long as we are trying then I think we are good 🍻🍻🍻😎😎😎

[@josephkirby1621]

I've brewed your Verdant "West coast" ipa twice now, missed the og both times. Last time .020 points. Damn, what's wrong!? Base malt by brew father had unrealistic numbers for yield. Doing a 1 pound one gallon test now. Great western pale malt. I managed to rescue both beers with unrefined sugar but we both know that's just not the same😂😂

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

These numbers change each year but even then cannot be fully relied on, as explained in the video 🍻🍻🍻

[@jimmya4217]

I'm consistently 10pts low on OG and 10pts high on FG. but consistent.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Consistency is good at least 🍻🍻🍻

[@1over137]

Before I even watch this, I was baffled by how people calculate the FG. When I learnt how most do it, I was shocked at just how rubbish and inaccurate they were. When I started watching brews they would come nowhere near the predicted numbers, usually the yeast ended up with far higher utilisation than predicted. % utilisation method gave me 1035-1009 for my last ferment, but it actually made it to 1007. Go yeast! Even that said... it does not factor yeast fermenability. If you brew a big fat sweet ale with 20% caramel malt the yeast is going to have significantly harder time fermenting any of that caramel. For a while I just stopped checking either OG or FG. I just left the fermentor in cool water till it stopped bubbling, then left it another 3 days at 20C room temp. If it wasn't done, it was going to have to finish in the keg.

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Some good points here and my video expands on this too, I hope you found it useful.

[@kenfowler1980]

Another to be honest - I don’t really bother anymore about exact numbers. After all I’m not brewing for a multinational conglomerate nor having to pay the tax man on alcohol produced. And since I don’t bottle I’m not the concerned about bottle bombs! Cheers

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

I believe that is realistic. I feel it is good to check though, in case something went wrong. 🍻🍻🍻